Photos from NH

Train ride with the kids

Paddle boat with Reagan

Hiking in Gunstock

Timberman Tri Finish

Riding in to T2

Roasting Marshmellows at Gunstock

Listening to a band at Packet Pickup

The new SRAM Red rear Cassette

The Machine all Primed for Action

A Boat Ride with the Kids

Get out the Door, Please

Update:

I "got out the door" at 9am and had the best long ride I've had this training cycle. Legs felt good, low back allowed me to stay down on the bar for the entire ride, and I had a fast and comfortable transition run of 2 miles afterwards.

There was some cloud coverage which helped.

Now I'm just sipping endurox recovery watching my girl Hillary stalk Lisbeth Christiansen at IMKY. Could this be her first IM win? Hope so!!!
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It is 8:00am on Sunday and I'm hurting from yesterday/last night.

Yesterday's run ended up being at an effort level that was probably a bit too much. I didn't recover from it as well as I should have.

That effort coupled with a late night out to dinner with friends, and I'm dragging this morning.

It is supposed to be 96 degrees today, and if I don't get out the door in the next hour, I'm going to cook myself. I've got a 50 mile ride, and a 2 mile transition run on the schedule today. It might end up being a long day on the trainer upstairs if I can't get it going soon.

Here is the swim workout from yesterday (in a 25 Meter pool)

1000 swim
5x400 odds swim, evens pull on 6:30
300 warm down

Logging Laps on a Treadmill

Last night I spend about an hour forty on a treadmill getting my long run in. I have a few tricks to make the time pass that I can write about, but in general I was content and could have kept going.

Physically, I felt good. I was running slow, keeping my HR under 145 and my aerobic engine could have gone on for hours. My legs were towards the end of their rope at the end, but that was to be expected given it was my longest run in over a year.

My tricks to keep my mind occupied are the following. I listen to music or podcasts on my ipod. Last night, I listened to the end of a B.S. Report from the Sportsguy, all of Ironman Talk, then about 20 minutes of music on my training playlist. Every 10 minutes I drink some water from my water bottle, and every 15 minutes I check my PDA for emails and text messages. Sometimes I open up a magazine (my gym has some pretty good multisport/endurance/outdoor mags) that is rich with photos and just sort of scan the page for photos, captions, and any writing in font large enough to make out while bouncing along. It works.

While I was in NH a couple of weeks ago, I attended the pro Q&A on Saturday at the race expo. Pros on the panel included Andy Potts, Michael Lovato, Dede Griesbauer, Simon Lessing, Karen Smyers, Chrissie Wellington, Fraser Cartmell and Torenzo Bozzone. The crowd of spectators wasn't as big this year compared to last, so it was easy to get questions asked and answered.

One question I posed to Andy Potts and Dede Griesbauer was how their swimming background and coming to triathlon with an understanding of how to train based on what they'd learned in the pool for all of those years helped their tri training, as well as how it hurt them. The answers were interesting.

For those who don't know, Andy Potts was one of the best US Milers in the pool. I think he even ended up third at an Olympic Trials in the 1500M just missing a spot to Sydney or Atlanta. Dede was also a great swimmer finaling twice at Oly Trials in the 200 Backstroke (my event) finishing as high as 5th at the '92 trials.

Andy's response was that after years and years of following a black line up and down the pool, that he had no problems putting his back wheel up on rollers or a wind trainer and doing a long ride on a trainer. He could also get on a treadmill and do a long or intense run and he would be completely content focusing on critical things like pace, feel, and form and not once wishing he was anywhere besides where he was.

That hit home with me a bit. I've always been more comfortable on a treadmill, trainer, or doing a short cycling course over and over compared to my peers.

In Houston, there is a great 1 mile bike loop at Memorial Park that lots of cyclist ride on. I logged many miles there in prep for my Ironman in '05. I can recall doing a 60 mile ride there on that one mile loop, then getting off the bike and running the loop a couple of times to get a transition run in. It didn't bother me. It was safe (no cars), had bathrooms right there, you didn't have stop lights or interruptions, and I could keep my replacement bottles at my car so they were always close by.

My buddies I was riding with at the time weren't as fond of the loop, and liked to get out on the open road and ride through the rest of the park. It all sort of makes sense now.

Don't get me wrong, my last post was about the most amazing run I had had in ages on a beautiful road along a lake, and my other favorite spots to run are at Town Lake in Austin, and on the running loop (a different loop) at Memorial Park in Houston.

I'm just saying I tend to spend my time thinking about other things, gauging how I feel or how my workout is going, or enjoying my music or podcasts. The setting I'm in is just icing on the cake.

I think swimming for years and years has conditioned me to be content this way. It is at times a solitary sport. There is no one to talk to when you are hurting the most, except in between intervals or sets. You have no choice but to focus on technique, pace (if there is a visible clock), how your feeling relative to the other day, earlier in that workout, etc., and you are maybe doing a little racing/pissing contest with the other people in your swim group. Other than that, there isn't much to focus on, but that list there gives you plenty to think about to get you through the session, and looking forward to coming back again later that day or the next morning.

Let your mind wander the next time conditions force you to run or ride inside. There is plenty to keep you going.

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I'm going to start posting my swim workouts. I've found that my blog is getting lots of hits from people googling swim workouts, or solo swim workouts, so I might as well give the people what they are searching for.

This was in a 25 Meter pool:

300 swim / 200 kick warm up
12x75 IM order (fl/bk/br, bk/br/fr, br/fr/fl, fr/fl/bk repeat 3 times)
4x200 swim on 3:15
800 pull with paddles
200 warm down

An Awesome Run Today

I had one of those runs today that could have gone on for ever, and I would have been completely content with that.

I drove over to the run course of the Timberman 70.3 this morning and did one loop of the 2 loop half marathon course.

It was about 7:45am, the bank sign said 63 degrees, and it was a light rain with fog on the lake.

I felt good, was clicking off faster miles than my effort would have otherwise suggested, and could have gone on for another hour if I wanted to.

It was funny how easy the course felt when compared to doing it last year after a long swim and bike before getting out on to it. The monster hill that brought me to a walk last year was short and sweet, and was no problem.

I plan to do another run there, about 8 miles, on Thursday morning before we head back to Boston to catch our flight home. I can't wait!

Racing in New Hampshire Again

Its been a while since I raced, but I got back out there today at the Timberman sprint. My intentions were to do the 70.3 race, but the Europe trip and a crazy few weeks at work wiped the month of June out, so I down gauged to the sprint, ramped up my training for the Longhorn 70.3 in Austin in Oct., and trained through my race this weekend.

It fell at the end of the a rest week, so I wasn't completely trashed like I was at the beginning of the week, but I'm confident I can train through and be ready to go long in early Oct.

The course was perfect. The swim was flat and fast, the bike was extremely hilly, but the wind wasn't bad, and the run was a steady climb up for 1.5 miles, then right back down. The weather was a dream in the low 70s after weeks of 100+ temps in Dallas.

I'm pretty happy with the results.

The swim went well. It was only 600 yards, so it was nice and short. I only saw 2 guys get away from me, and had some feet to follow for a bit of the way. I pushed it hard, but didn't let it get out of control.

Swim 7:28, 21st out of 988

This bike course is a tough 15 miles that takes you up to a mtn pass. Right out of T1 you climb for about a mile, then get about a mile of down and flat before heading straight up. I was hurting early on, but tried to settle in. I recall this course well from the 70.3 race I did here last year. The 70.3 race is a bunch of climbing for the first 14 miles, then mostly flat with small rollers to the turn around at 28, then back over that same Mtn pass. The Sprint course takes you about halfway up the pass, then turns you around and sends you back down to the lake.

I felt great on the flats, did my best on the climbs, and bombed the downhills. The new Zipp 404 front and 808 rear felt great, and my glue job on my tubulars worked out okay.

Bike 46:40 (19.3 mph), 129th out of 988

The run is beautiful. It should be since it is held on "scenic drive." It winds right around the lake. It is a pretty steady climb up to the turn around then back down to the finish.

I wasn't really paying attention to my splits, but felt good and had a decent turnover. Most importantly, I wasn't getting passed like I was standing still which is mostly the case.

At the turn at the top of the course, I flipped it up a gear and held a real hard pace back down to the finish line. It hurt like hell, but I welcomed it.

Run 22:50 (7:37 pace), 322 out of 988

So I went a 1:21.14, finished 15th out of 56 for for my age group, 111th (out of 499) for the men, and 131st overall.

I'm a bit sore, but should be fine tomorrow. I need to get a couple of hours in on the bike, so that will help lossen things up if a good nights sleep doesn't do it.

We've got some decent photos and should have more after our vacation wraps up.

Thanks to our friend Chikako who came up from Connecticut for the weekend to hang out with Ingrid and I, watch us race, and play with the kids.

We're off to our favorite restaurant we found last summer called The Camp over in Meredith for a nice dinner!

Lezak and Men's 400 FR Go Main Stream

Coming in to work today has really been a blast. On the drive in, ESPN Radio was discussing the men's 400 Free Relay win last night. It was the biggest thing to happen on the sports landscape since the MLB trade deadline moves.

I was running on the treadmill at lunch and CNN was covering the victory and had an interview with Cullen Jones.

I've got emails asking questions about swimming from people who never paid the sport any bit of mind.

That swim last night transcended beyond the sports enthusiasts interest. It was a story about Americans, not a story about swimmers.

Congrats to Phelps, UT Alum Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and fellow long time socal swimmer and hero of the moment, Jason Lezak (even if he is a UCSB Gaucho, and my Big West allegiance lies with the 'better' Big West swim program, UOP - that ones for you Todd!)

Swimming Again

I've been swimming with a proper masters team for three weeks and am starting to feel a little better in the water. I last swam this consistently back in the Spring '07 so its been a while.

This masters team has 4 or 5 guys who are in to long distance open water swimming, so while their not speed burners they can grind it out at a good tempo and we tend to do what I'd call mid distance type sets. I've enjoyed pacing with them in workouts and watching my abilities to hang improve with each workout.

I'm still on that steep part of the improvement curve, which is fun.

We're on temporary hiatus from our normal pool, which is fine with me because the water at our normal spot was way to hot for anything up-tempo. The new pool is cooler, 25 yards (as opposed to meters), but doesn't have a pace clock so I have no idea what sort of pace I'm holding. It probably isn't anything spectacular, but I'm getting better with each session and can see some swimmer shoulders starting to peek out a bit.

This morning I got in 3,100 before I hopped out. I'm planning to run for an hour tonight and wanted to make sure that happened and that I didn't leave it all in the pool. This is what we did:

400 Reverse IM
12x75 alternating free/backstroke
4x400 alternating swim/pull
200 warm down

Nothing too creative, but I don't care as long as their are other people there doing it with me.

I'm off to New Hampshire on Thursday of next week to spend a week on the lake. I'd signed up to do Timberman 70.3, but down-gauged to the sprint distance race after not getting off my ass in time to get fit. I've got 8 weeks until Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, so I'm game planning to have a decent showing there. It would be nice to dip under 6 hours but I'm not sure if a 10 week build off of a 6 week hiatus on the couch will be enough.

Who cares I guess. Just looking forward to going long.